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01 September 2014

As the European football season gets underway and the transfer window closes, every year a slew of articles spring-up chastising the orgy of spending by the big clubs and make dire predictions of fan revolt and how football will be damaged beyond repair by big money.

I say phooey! The fact is the great majority of football fans pretty much support the 10 to 12 super clubs out there. All the minnow sides combined only account for a small minority of fans. A great example of this was a few days back when I attended a gathering of Aston Villa supporters in Kathmandu (I’m a proud Villan!). All together there were 3 of us at the meeting. On my way to the event I probably passed about a dozen people on the street wearing shirts of Barcelona, Chelsea, Arsenal and the likes.

Other than perhaps a handful of Manchester United fans distraught that Manchester City now has the same financial muscle as them, I doubt it is much of a stretch to say those super club fans are not in any despair about big money in football. On the contrary, fans of clubs like Real Madrid are probably sprinting to a local printing shop to get JAMES printed on the back of their jerseys.